The aim of this project is to examine and address health literacy and life style factors that contribute to poor health in underserved rural communities with special emphasis on the factors of dietary habits, exercise, and use of health services. Our thrust will be to work with community leaders and stake holders to develop and disseminate culturally appropriate and culturally sensitive educational information to residents of rural communities in Upstate and central Low Counties of South Carolina. In the Upstate, these communities are in Pickens, Anderson, and Oconee counties; in the central Low Country, the target communities are in Orangeburg, Bamberg, Calhoun, counties. Health and lifestyle factors known to contribute to poor health in underserved rural communities will be examined with special emphasis on the factors of dietary habits and exercise. We propose to control morbidity and mortality related to chronic diseases in these counties through two thrusts: 1) Primary prevention, through outreach to individuals who have not yet developed these morbidities; 2) Secondary prevention aimed at early detection of morbidities, and 2) Management, through tertiary clinical and behavioral choices and action designed to help afflicted individuals manage their illnesses. A second goal is to build the capacity of community members through the use of an interdisciplinary and participatory approaches designed to involve community leaders and stake holders in the outreach process. Community capacity refers to combined assets that influence a community's commitment, resources, and skills used to solve problems and strengthen the quality of life for its citizens (Wurzback, 2003) In partnership with the community, we will develop model prevention programs that are focused on meaningful, long-term behavior change. In so doing, we will take advantage of programs and methods developed at both national and local levels, for example, the Planed Approach to Community Health (PATCH) is essentially a networking model of planning, as advocated by the Healthy Communities 2000 project (Wurzbach, 2002). The PATCH framework is designed to be adaptable for community needs, and the overall goal is to reduce the prevalence of modifiable risk factors for the leading causes of preventable illness, death, disability, and injury. (Gage County Project, 2003). A key concept in PATCH is local ownership, but with a sense of partnership with and support by other organizations. (McBeth, and Schweer, 2000). We will mobilize target communities to implement a wide variety of community activities designed to promote healthy choices in diet, physical activities, and prompt use of health services. The goal of PATCH is to increase the capacity of communities to plan, implement, and evaluate comprehensive community-based health promotion activities targeted toward priority health problems (Green, Kreuter, 1999)